Priorities
by ReySolo
Summary: When a mission goes wrong, will Heero’s priority be accomplishing the mission, or saving Duo’s life? Shonen-ai, 1+2.


Summary: When a mission goes wrong, will Heero's priority be accomplishing the mission, or saving Duo's life? Shonen-ai, 1+2.

Notes: The first scene just popped into my head, and my muse demanded I turn it into a story. So I did. Oh, and for timeline, it's not very specific; the mission could be during the war or with the Preventors, take your pick. Thanks to Tori-chan (author name Tori Sakana) for betaing; go read her fic, too! Please, R&R! :)

Disclaimer: Sadly, the G-boys do not belong to me; they belong to Bandai and Sunrise. I do own this story itself, but make no money from it, so please don't sue.

Priorities  
by ReySolo

"Stay away," the man with the gun pointed at Duo's head warned, "Or your friend here is dead."

Heero gave him the Death Glare but didn't take another step forward.

"Now, you're going to back off and let me go." At Yuy's skeptical look, the man chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh, I know you would try to follow me. That's why I'm going to give you a choice." The gun moved from his hostage's temple to his gut, and Maxwell's eyes widened. "Follow me, or stop your friend here from bleeding to death."

Duo felt his stomach clench in fear and frustration at that implication. What would Heero do? He hoped that his friend would care enough about him to stay, but capturing or killing this man was the _mission_, and Yuy would do almost anything for a mission. The dark expression on his friend's face gave no indication of what he would do.

The next cold words Heero spoke seemed to show his decision, however. "I will kill you."

The man chuckled again. "Fine, then; your friend will die as well."

Before he was done speaking, Duo felt and heard the gun go off. He moaned in pain as he fell to the floor, clutching his bleeding abdomen. He heard the footsteps of the armed man take off out the door, and heard Yuy's steps… coming closer?

He felt warm hands push his own away from his wound and cover it with something soft. Forcing his eyes open, he saw Heero kneeling over him, shirtless, his face the epitome of concentration as he held the green tank top over the hole in Duo's side. "Heero…" he gasped out.

The boy didn't look up from his work.

"Why are you helping me instead of going after him?" Duo asked, realizing he was hoping for a specific answer but pretty damn sure he wasn't going to get what he wanted.

"Stop talking and save your energy, Maxwell. You're disrupting your wound," came the impassive reply.

Unsatisfied, Duo prodded some more. "Letting him go wasn't part of the mission."

Still not looking up from his work of stopping the bleeding, Heero replied, "Neither was letting one of the Gundam pilots get killed; now shut up."

Finding this response somewhat better but still not what he wanted, Duo protested, "So I'm just indispensable 'cause I'm a Gundam pilot, huh?" He closed his eyes and lay his head on the floor. "Guess I couldn't expect Heero Yuy to admit to caring about someone, could I?"

"I told you to be quiet, Duo, you'll hurt yourself."

The voice sounded closer than before, and Duo was about to open his eyes when he felt a warm, moist pressure cover his lips. He froze, only realizing what the pleasant sensation was as it was removed a second later.

He looked up to see Heero staring at his stomach, unmoving.

"Did you just kiss me?" Duo asked incredulously.

Yuy didn't reply, but began holding pressure on the wound again. He then slid his arms under Duo's shoulders and legs, explaining, "I'm going to pick you up to bring you to the car and get you to a hospital. Ready?"

Duo merely nodded, but the motion of lifting was too much and he passed out with a moan.

~~~~~

Duo awoke slowly, trying to remember where he was and why his side hurt so much. Opening his eyes to see the familiar surroundings of a hospital room, his memories up until passing out came flooding back.

But where those memories entirely accurate? Had Heero Yuy actually _kissed _ him? Or was that just some image created by his mind due to blood loss? Heaven knew how often he'd dreamed of such a scene. Granted, in those dreams he wasn't usually shot and bleeding to death first… But he had realized in the past few months that his feelings for the other pilot had gone beyond camaraderie and friendship, to something deeper. This came as an especially great surprise to him, since he had always believed himself to be entirely straight, never thought he could be attracted to another male. However, with each mission he was partnered with Yuy, Duo was falling more and more for the blue-eyed boy, longing to kiss and touch and wrap his arms around him… The other boy had never given any sign of reciprocating those feelings, however, and Duo was _not _going to be the first to bring it up.

Now he wondered if his mind had just supplied the illusion of the kiss to sooth his pain-filled senses.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

Realizing he hadn't noticed anyone else in the room, Duo glanced over to the chair beside the bed. Hope that it was Heero was dashed as he realized a blond boy sat looking at him with concern-filled eyes. "Hey, Quat," he greeted his Arabian friend. "I've been better, but I guess I'm not all that bad, considering."

Quatre gave him a small smile. "That's good. We've been worried about you. They only let you have one visitor at a time, so Trowa, Wufei, and I have been taking turns sitting with you, making sure you wouldn't wake up alone."

Though he felt a great deal of gratitude for his friends' thoughtfulness, he found himself focusing on what was left out of Quatre's description, or rather, whom. "What about Heero?" he asked.

His friend's smile faded. Quietly, he explained, "When he called to tell us he'd brought you here, he said he was going to complete the mission. It was a simple mission, right? Just capture the guy and bring him back, or terminate him, right?" At Duo's uneasy nod, he finished, "That was three days ago."

The discovery that he'd been out of it for three days barely registered as he felt intense concern for his missing friend. The logical part of his mind reminded him that Heero would have to find the guy's trail again, which would probably be much better hidden since he knew Yuy would be after him. However, the stronger, emotional part was telling him that he may never find out if the kiss was real or not.

"He'll be back, right, Quatre?" Duo asked in a small voice, cursing how pathetic he sounded even to his own ears.

The small smile returned to the Arab's face. "He'll do everything in his power to complete the mission and get back here, Duo. You can count on that."

"I know," Duo replied. He knew Heero would do everything in his power. He only hoped and prayed that would be good enough.

~~~~~

Over the next few days, Duo slept for the majority of the time. He actually woke up enough to have some solid meals instead of intravenous nutrition after the first day. He sometimes awoke with Quatre, Trowa, or Wufei, or sometimes more than one of them, beside him; other times he found them gone, but didn't really care. He only cared that Heero had not yet returned. 

After he'd been in the hospital for a week, the nurse who checked him every morning informed him he could be released soon. The thought cheered him, but only vaguely. Then she told him he had a visitor. He shrugged, figuring it was Wufei returning, or maybe Trowa or Quatre dropping by.

He was facing away from the door when the visitor came in.

"You look better than a week ago."

Duo's head whipped around, looking at the figure standing in the doorway. "Hee-chan! You're back!" He tried to sit up, but pulled at his stitches and fell back with a grimace.

Heero stepped up to the bed. "Thank you for informing me; I hadn't noticed."  
  
Duo grinned. "Was that a joke I just heard? From _you_? Nah, must have been hearing things."

Cobalt eyes stared impassively back at him.

"So, catch the bad guy?" Duo asked, knowing Heero wouldn't be back yet if he hadn't.

Emotionlessly, Heero replied, "He's dead."

Duo nodded, and both boys remained silent for a few minutes. Heero was silent because he was Heero; Duo was uncharacteristically quiet because he was trying to determine how to bring up the subject that had been bothering him. Finally, he gave up and went for the simple, blunt way of asking.

"Did you kiss me?"

Avoiding eye contact, Heero faced the opposite direction. He slowly nodded.

"Why?" Duo asked, the lack of communication bothering him.

Still not looking at him, Heero replied, "You were babbling, it was hurting your wound, I had to shut you up somehow."

Duo wondered if that logic seemed as lacking to Heero as it did to him. He was suddenly nervous as he licked his lips and asked, "Does that mean if I talk a lot right now you'll do it again?"

Finally, Heero's eyes flew to meet Duo's, surprise and relief strangely obvious in his gaze. Then, Duo's arm moved up to grasp the small hairs at the back of Heero's neck, while the blue-eyed boy leaned down to take the braided boy's head in his hands.

Their eyes closed, and their lips met. The kiss was hesitant at first, but quickly became more passionate. Heero's tongue begged for entrance into Duo's mouth, and the braided boy eagerly complied. Tongues battled and hands stroked hair as the boys reveled in the taste of each other.

Suddenly they were interrupted by sound of a throat clearing. The two looked up sheepishly as they saw Quatre had entered the room.

The blond smiled at them. "Finally!" he said emphatically. "Trowa and I were beginning to wonder if we were going to have to push you two in the right direction…"

Duo glared playfully at him while Heero glanced pointedly at the door.

The Arab giggled, "Oh, sorry!" and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Heero looked down at the braided boy, grinning mischievously. "Now, where were we?"

Duo grinned back, pulling him down close to his lips. "Right about here," he breathed, pulling the boy into another deep kiss.

~owari~

Review, onegai shimasu! I have more GW fics in the makings, and they'll get out faster if I know people appreciate my work! :)


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